LEGO PancakeBot pushes the boundaries of brunch technology

If you love pancakes but hate making them, then the LEGO PancakeBot might be your dream come true. Designed by Miguel Valenzuela, the LEGO robot pushes the boundaries of brunch technology by using an X and Y axis to make a row of perfectly round silver dollar pancakes – and it can also be used to draw unique, artistically shaped flapjacks.

Tech-savvy LEGO fans have come up with some innovative ways to use everyone’s favorite building brick, but Valenzuela’s invention takes the (pan)cake. The complicated system is controlled by three axes. The X and Y axes control the location of the pancakes, while the C axis controls the amount of batter dispensed from a ketchup bottle controlled by a dual pneumatic system.

The LEGO arms hold up the motor and batter dispenser unit, which straddles a heated pan. As the LEGO arms move along the heated tray, two rows of bite-sized pancakes are squeezed out and begin to cook. But unfortunately, breakfast won’t be completed without a human touch, as the LEGO PancakeBot has yet to develop an automatic pancake flipper, to cook both sides of each cake. Valenzuela plans to offer directions for enthusiasts to build their own LEGO PancakeBots in the future.